Flare Network gained 14% on May 15 as altcoins outpaced Bitcoin stuck below its 200-day moving average. Summary Flare Network’s FLR token rose 14% after the FAssets v1.3 upgrade went live, enabling one-click XRP-to-FXRP minting directly from centralized exchanges. Hyperliquid’s HYPE led all 24-hour gains at 16%, fueled by Bitwise’s new spot Hyperliquid ETF and Coinbase’s role as the protocol’s USDC treasury deployer. Unibase’s UB token gained 11% as AI agent marketplace momentum continued to attract capital rotation into smaller altcoins away from Bitcoin and Ethereum. Flare Network activated the FAssets v1.3 upgrade on its mainnet on May 15, enabling XRP holders to mint the DeFi-ready FXRP token in a single XRP Ledger transaction using native destination tags. The upgrade allows minting directly from major centralized exchanges including Binance and Kraken as a simple withdrawal, removing the multi-step friction that had limited adoption. FLR gained 14% on the announcement. Hyperliquid’s HYPE led all 24-hour gains at 16%, driven by Bitwise’s launch of a spot Hyperliquid ETF and Coinbase’s new designation as the protocol’s official USDC treasury deployer. Unibase’s UB token added 11%, continuing its May momentum after the May 7 launch of its ERC-8183 Agent Service Market. Total cumulative crypto futures volume rose 14% to $220 billion over 24 hours. Bitcoin’s 200-day average caps the session Bitcoin remained below its 200-day simple moving average near $82,228 throughout the session, trading around $80,592. The Senate Banking Committee’s 15-9 Clarity Act approval on Thursday had briefly pushed Bitcoin above $82,000, but macro pressure from hotter-than-expected inflation data and the $2.6 billion options expiry reversed those gains by Friday. As crypto.news reported, Flare has been executing a broader tokenomics overhaul under FIP.16, cutting annual FLR inflation by 40% to 3% and introducing protocol-level MEV capture designed to link network usage directly to token value. That structural shift provides a bullish case for FLR independent of broader market conditions. As crypto.news noted when FLR printed a similar catalyst-driven rally in April 2025, upgrades that lower friction for XRP capital entering the Flare ecosystem have historically preceded sustained volume growth in the days following the launch.
